Equal: Action 2

1
Equal Action 2

• Action 2 Update Seminars
• Introductory Workshop

2
Workshop in brief

• Monitoring and record keeping
• finance expenditure and income
• beneficiaries and outputs
• activities
• DP case study

3
Definitions

• Monitoring
• the routine collection and recording of
  information about day-to-day activities, outputs
  and finances to provide regular feedback on
  whether a DP is on schedule and meets ESF
  requirements
• Evaluation
• the process by which a DPs activities,
  achievements and impact are assessed and
  understood

4
Why monitor?

• ESF Requirement
• Tool for evaluation
• Management tool
• planning and decision-making cycle

5
Monitoring - When

• Link to all monitoring requirements
• e.g. DP Profile and Advance Claims Forms /
  Progress Report and Interim Claim Forms,
  Monitoring Forms (GB / European), A2CR etc.
• Link to evaluation requirements
• internal and external
• Ensure that monitoring systems can meet required
  timeframes (e.g. interim claim periods)

6
Monitoring Systems -Examples of Good Practice

• Project management website to share materials -
  password protected
• System measuring objectives / outputs against
  service level agreements
• Themed Away Days / training visits
• Setting up Monitoring working group for DP
• Developing a risk register to assess risk
  across DP
• Monitoring visits for partners by lead partner

7
What should be monitored?

• Finance
• expenditure
• income
• Outcomes
• outputs / outcomes
• beneficiaries
• Activities

8
Expenditure (1)

• Whole of DP costs - not just ESF
• ESF eligible
• Appropriate for DP objectives and activities as
  in approved DPA / TCA
• Incurred within the approved funding period -
  Action 2 (15 May 2002 - 14 May 2005)

9
Expenditure (2)

• Expenditure by lead partner, partners and match
  funders must be actual
• cannot include profit, notional costs, discount
  charges, lost opportunity costs
• Ringfenced budget lines for Action 2
• evaluation, dissemination and transnational costs
• Value for money

10
Expenditure (3)

• Acceptable methodologies
• apportionment, depreciation and staff salaries
• No or minimal sub-contracting
• main activities must be carried out by DP
  partners
• Equal Initial Guidance, p.65

11
Expenditure Record Keeping (1)

• Audit trail - source documentation to Closure
  Report
• invoices and receipts
• cash book and bank statements
• annual accounts and management accounts
• analysis of overhead costs and shared costs
• working papers for Closure Report
• salary payroll records/time sheets
• If no audit trail, you cannot claim!

12
Income

• Income sources
• ESF
• Match funding - public / private
• Revenue

13
ESF

• Cannot exceed DPs approved intervention rate
  (usually 50)
• Intervention rate variable within total DP cost

14
Match Funding

• Two types of Match Funding
• actual
• in kind
• Two sources of Match Funding
• public
• private

15
Actual Match Funding

• Actual match funding can be
• cash
• depreciation charges
• Audit trail is relatively easy to maintain

16
In Kind Match Funding (1)

• Non-cash match funding
• service or product where actual cost does not
  appear in accounts of lead partner
• Examples include
• donation of paid staff
• time of employed beneficiaries
• rent for premises payable by match funder

17
In Kind Match Funding (2)

• Covers actual expenditure incurred by match
  funder towards ESF-eligible costs
• Must be reflected as expenditure items in budget
• Cannot include profit, notional costs, discount
  charges, lost-opportunity costs
• Audit trail can be difficult to establish

18
In Kind Match funding (3)

• Written evidence of agreement
• Must be substantiated by auditable records to
  show actual costs incurred, such as
• staff and employed beneficiary costs - notional
  invoices, time sheets, actual salary details
• non-staff materials or services - paid invoices

19
Public Match Funding

• Eligible public match funder
• receive over 50 funding from central/local
  government or levies raised for training purposes
• central/local government
• non-profit making organisations registered with
  the Charity Commission.

20
Private Match Funding

• Eligible private match funding
• any money originating from private enterprise
• volunteer time
• No equivalent of PMFC or GSE but written evidence
  of agreement and records to demonstrate actual
  and eligible still required

21
Finance - Examples of Good Practice

• Finance Monitoring Checklist for partners
• Checking eligibility of partner costs by lead
  partner
• Samples of original source documentation
  regularly sent by partners to lead partner
• Dummy audits by lead partner to check records
  kept and accuracy of financial information
• Customising financial monitoring forms based on
  ESU guidance

22
Beneficiaries - Monitoring

• ESF eligible
• age (16 years and over)
• legal residency in GB
• permission to work (if asylum seekers)
• Equal eligible
• subject to discrimination or inequality in the
  labour market
• in line with DPA (Sections 6.3 and 13)
• appropriate to Theme

23
Beneficiaries - Record Keeping

• Refer to Section 13 of DPA
• Signed enrolment form/statement of eligibility
• Individual training record
• Beneficiary allowances
• Beneficiary timesheet
• Progress and achievement records
• Destination and evaluation form

24
Beneficiaries - Examples of Good Practice

• Developing beneficiary passports system to
  track beneficiaries / establish needs
• Customised systems established across DP to
  ensure consistent approach to eligibility, hours
  etc.
• Developing central database across DP to record
  all beneficiaries - use as evaluation tool
• Early leaver form to collect reasons why people
  have left early - use to improve actions in
  future

25
Activities

• Progress towards / changes to
• aims and objectives
• leading principles
• monitoring / evaluation
• GB and European level networking
• Changes to DP membership / management
• Publicity / ESF acknowledgement
• Added value - Equal Initial Guidance, p. 48

26
Activities - Record Keeping (1)

• Approved DPA and TCA
• Operational and planning documents
• Publicity materials
• Contracts / agreements
• Minutes of partner meetings
• Evaluation strategy
• Agreed and formalised monitoring and reporting
  system
• Risk assessment strategy

27
Activities - Record Keeping (2)

• Quantitative information
• facts and figures
• Qualitative information to monitor process issues
  (partnership / empowerment etc.)
• records of interviews
• attitudinal surveys
• participant observation etc

28
Activities - Examples of Good Practice

• Developing a central database / spreadsheet to
  track activities for each reporting period
• Using software packages to track progress and
  tasks required for each reporting period
• Using prompts to remind partners to inform on
  expected activities / outputs in each reporting
  period
• Developing comprehensive workplan outlining
  planned activities